It was unfortunate for Liz Kendall that as she unveiled a cure for sicknote Britain her voice was hoarse and became increasingly croaky during more than an hour of questions from MPs.
But brave Liz, who was at Watford Grammar School for Girls with Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, runs five mornings a week and had a hip replacement this year, is not one to throw a sickie without good reason.
Indeed, with what she described as the biggest employment reforms for a generation she gave Labour MPs what they really, really want, while – not surprisingly – Tory MPs claimed she hit all the wrong notes.
Ms Kendall’s Get Britain Working white paper even includes plans to give young wannabees the chance to get jobs on the big stage with employers such as the Premier League, Channel 4 and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
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A “youth guarantee” – an apprenticeship, training or education – in areas such as Liverpool, Tees Valley and the East Midlands is one of the three parts of the shake-up by Labour’s Spice Girl.
The others are a digital makeover for stuffy old jobcentres with AI and apps – “a job centre in your pocket”, she promised – and a blitz on NHS waiting lists in the areas with the highest levels of economic inactivity.
All very ambitious. But the Tories’ “Posh Spice” – privately educated shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately – was not impressed. “Is that it?” she declared theatrically, throwing up her arms like a real diva.
She accused Labour of “pinching our ideas” and “dodging difficult decisions”. Well which is it? It can’t be both, surely? She also suggested that the pandemic was to blame for so many people not working.
The big difference between Spice Girl Liz’s reforms and those of her Tory predecessor, Mel Stride, is that hers target young people who are not working while old crooner Mel’s were aimed at getting over 50s back to work.
Ms Kendall’s proposals are also an attempt to tackle the problem of a record 2.8 million people being out of work due to long term sickness. Her aim is to get another two million people into jobs.
The plan will target unemployment hotspots. Cash earmarked for cutting NHS waiting lists and getting people off sickness benefits will be spent in eight “trailblazer” areas, including North East England and Yorkshire.
That’s all very well, claimed Tory “Posh Spice” and other Conservative MPs, who said that, while Ms Kendall attempts to create jobs, the national insurance hikes in the chancellor’s budget will destroy 50,000 jobs.
We’ve been here before with welfare reform. Going back to Frank Field being ordered by Tony Blair to “think the unthinkable” in 1997, Labour and Conservative government have grappled with getting people off welfare and into work.
Yet the problem is getting worse, though to be fair the pandemic has been a major factor.
Liz Kendall’s croaky voice will soon recover, no doubt. Fixing sicknote Britain will take much longer. But like the real Spice Girls she’ll be hoping her welfare reforms will be a big hit.
